Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Should You See Bridge To Terabithia?

It's a legitimate question. When the trailer for Terabithia came out people were a bit... shell-shocked I guess is the best word for it. Take a glance at it and you'd never know that the book was about two kids trying to escape the world around them by creating a fantasy land of their own. It looks far more in the vein of Narnia in the preview.

Well there was a showing of Terabithia at the recent Seattle Mid-Winter Conference and author Katherine Paterson was there, seeing it for the first time with a couple librarians. I did not go, so what I'm telling you now came to me via some of the librarians who attended. According to them, the movie is actually quite good. Apparently the fantasy elements are there to some extent, but they don't rule the film in the way that the preview implied. Ms. Paterson was, apparently, pleased with the final product and there was even a librarian present who spoke up and said that she had been on the Newbery committee that chose to give Terabithia the award proper back in 1978.

Until the reviews start to come out on February 16th, this is all I know so far. Still, I find it heartening. Walden may have its ups and downs, but when it's up it can be quite stirring. Aww... and it has Zooey Deschanel in it. You LOVE Zooey Deschanel, don't you? Of course you do. So here's hoping the book treads the same path as Heavenly Creatures (sans the matricide, of course).

7 Comments:

Thanks for this. A few of my knitblogging friends who adored this book from their childhood (yes, we're old enough to have read it back in the 78's. shuddup) were really bothered by the commercials they'd seen for the film. I've sent this along to stop the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

I was in Seattle and met up with a librarian who saw the sneak preview. She said that instead of passing out popcorn that they should have passed out tissues. She also said that AnnaSophia Robb was wonderful as Leslie.

I have been checking out your bog -you have some great posts! I am so happy to hear about the Bridge to Terabithia Movie. I saw the trailer and have been heartsick ever since. Thanks for restoring my hope!